China to scrap domestic data roaming charges

China will abolish domestic data roaming fees to cut cost for increasingly digital Chinese consumers, a government work report said Monday.

People visit the stand of China Mobile during an exhibition in Nanjing city, east China's Jiangsu Province. [File photo: IC]

Rates for mobile internet services will be cut by at least 30 percent this year, according to the report delivered by Premier Li Keqiang Monday morning at the opening of the first session of the 13th National People's Congress, China's top legislature.

China scrapped domestic roaming fees for long-distance calls last year as telecom operators turn to mobile Internet services for business growth.

"China will do more to speed up broadband and bring down Internet rates, achieve high-speed broadband access in both urban and rural areas, and make free Internet access available in more public places," said the document.

The country will significantly lower the rates of home broadband, and corporate broadband and dedicated Internet access services, it said.

These steps will bring tangible benefits to people and businesses, and boost the development of a Digital China, the report added. 

China had over 753 million mobile Internet users by the end of 2017, the largest in the world and lending steam to a booming digital economy.

China's digital economy totaled 26 trillion yuan (about 4.1 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2017, accounting for around 32 percent of national GDP, according to the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology.